Yvette Cooper – 2024 Speech at the Police Bravery Awards

The speech made by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, at the Royal Lancaster Hotel on 11 July 2024.

Thank you very much, and good evening everybody. It is such an enormous privilege to be here this evening.

As we all know, really the very best and bravest of British policing. Tiffany was saying this is the 29th annual Bravery Awards. Feel that means I’ve actually been here for half of them.

So this is my 14th annual Bravery Awards. So I want to thank the Police Federation, Police Mutual, and of course, the unstoppable Mark Durden-Smith who will be with us later on, who’s been coming probably even longer than I have.

There has been a huge amount of work to make this happen. This is going to be an evening of tributes to some incredible bravery, some incredible stories of heroism.

But can I also just start by saying thank you, to all of the partners, all of the relatives, all of the families who are also here this evening because the work that your partners do, that I know you will feel so proud of, is actually only possible because of your love and support. And I know sometimes that can be the hardest of thing to do and to deal with.

It was a pleasure to meet so many of you this morning in the reception that we had in Downing Street. One of the officers I was speaking to said “Oh, it’s really surreal being here in Downing Street. And I had to say “yeah, you and me both!”

I’m still getting used to the change in roles. Yesterday morning, so I wake up, I always have the radio on, the alarm on in the morning. I woke up with the voice on the radio saying “and the shadow Home Secretary has said major changes need to be made in the party after the election.” I leapt up thinking “oh my God, what have I said now?”

So it is a real honour to be able to come out of the shadows after such a long time and to be here to support you and to pay tribute to you as your Home Secretary this year.

This morning’s reception, I’m told it was actually the first Downing Street reception that the new government has held and I think that could not be more fitting. I could not think of a more fitting group of people to be there being honoured in Downing Street this morning. I bring you good wishes from the Prime Minister who’s obviously abroad today and pays tribute as well, because the reason I have attended so many Police Bravery Awards in so many different roles in the past is because I think it’s so important to respect and recognise the work you do, and because the stories are always so inspirational, often so difficult.

Incredibly difficult situations that you will have faced, the extreme violence that you will have had to walk towards, the dangerous rescues that many of you have undertaken. And, they are a reminder of the work that not just you, but this is right across the country during every single day to keep us safe. We will hear so many more of those stories during the course of this evening.

But I just want to reflect briefly on last year’s awards. And last year, I had the honour of presenting an award to officers from the West Midlands who had shown extraordinary courage wading into the icy waters at Babbs Mill Lake in an effort to save 4 children who had fallen through the ice.

Their overwhelming emotion as they collected their reward was actually deep distress, that those young lives had been lost despite their efforts, and their thoughts with the families who had been left bereft.

For me, that moment did capture what is so important about British policing because it was the selfless service that those officers have shown, in the most dangerous situations, and their determination to do everything that they could to try to help, and also their compassion for those who needed their help, and for those who have sought to protect, and their loved ones.

And it’s that combination that is so special about British policing. And Tiff has said already, we do hear it so often and I heard it again this morning from I think four different people that I spoke to “well I was just doing my job.” “Well it’s just the job, anybody would have done it.”

It’s not just a job. This isn’t a normal job. This really is a job like no other. And those of you who have been nominated tonight, have responded like no other and really gone above and beyond. To keep us safe. And that is why we all owe you so much thanks.

So I wanted to pay tribute to all of the officers and staff across the country, who are working this evening, who are working tonight and will be working through the night to keep our community safe.

We all know policing has faced challenges in recent years and confidence has fallen. What I want to say is that I will be with you every step of the way as we work to restore confidence, as we work to raise standards, as we work to shine a light on the incredible bravery and the incredible heroism and the sense of duty, the selfless duty, that policing shows every single day, and I will be with you in that work.

And I will say one more thing, which is that putting the safety and well-being of others above your own out of duty can take its toll. And I have seen the tears sometimes in eyes of officers coming up to collect these awards, as they have to relive what happened and sometimes traumatic events. I know that being a police officer, it’s a great toll as a result of the things that you have to do, so that the rest of us don’t. And we owe you for that.

And that’s why I also want to work with the Police Federation and with all of you to support police officers and staff through every step of the way. It’s why we supported Bryn Hughes’ campaign, and why I’m so pleased that we will have the Elizabeth Emblems, the first ones been given out in the course of this year, but also why I will work with you to make sure that the Police Covenant is properly implemented and respected, so we can support police officers in everything that they do.

So 6 days into the job. The sun’s been shining. England are in the Euros. Someone told me they haven’t actually lost a match under a Labour Government.

We have optimism and determination so we know there’s going to be serious challenges ahead, we know there will be issues around resources, there will be issues around so many different things, but actually when we stand together, with pride in that tradition, that British policing tradition, policing by consent. I’m proud, I’m so proud of British policing. I’m so proud of the work that you do. And I’m so proud as we move now, to be able to give the Inspiration Award, to be able to celebrate and pay tribute to all of you tonight, to all of you for being inspirational.

Thank you very much.